Cucumber Jalapeno Margaritas

The perfect kitchen partner is sweet, gives that sour kick, and loves to be salty. Yup, that’s right–we are talking Margaritas and man, aren’t they the best thing to join you in the kitchen? Or a glass of wine. Or scotch (I’ve been really digging on a nice glass of scotch lately). Oh heck, who am I kidding. Are you alcohol? Then you are cooking with me!

For my Gluten-Free Vegan Cinco de Mayo feast of feasts dinner plan, no meal would be right without a nice adult beverage. Am I right or am I right or am I right?

There is a Mexican restaurant down in Orange County that I used to live nearby and frequent often just to sip on a Jalapeno Margarita (Hi Rachel! Cheers, Mom!) As I get older my need for more spicy increases and though this isn’t the spiciest of spices (yes my face does break out in sweat beads when I eat spicy food), it still has a nice little kick that I enjoy. This Cucumber Jalapeno Margarita is the trifecta of spicy, sweet, and salty. The best part? You are in control of how much of each you desire. Does a drink get any better than that?

Cucumber Jalapeno Margaritas

Ingredients

4-5 medium-sized lemons

3-4 limes

1 large cucumber

4 4 oz. tequila shots (blue agave for gluten-free)

Jalapeno Simple Syrup

1/2 c. water

1/4 c. sugar

2 jalapenos

Instructions

Juice the lemons, limes, and cucumber together (I was able to manually squeeze the citrus but had to use my juicer for the cucumber. If you don’t have a juicer, you can try blending the cucumber pulp with the citrus until smooth). This should make approx. 1 1/4 c. cup-ish of liquid. Cool in the refrigerator.

In a small saucepan, throw in the sugar, water, and sliced jalapenos. It’s okay if there are seeds, you are going to drain them out. In fact if you want a spicier margarita, crush the juice of the jalapenos with the back of a fork into the syrup water. Boil the water on medium until the sugar is dissolved. Simmer for 10 minutes. Drain with a fine mesh colander and cool completely.

Throw everything into a large pitcher filled with ice cubes. Try placing half of the simple syrup first and then add according to your sweetness meter. Throw in sliced cucumbers and seeded jalapenos for garnish if you like.